Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) has launched the American-Made EPIC Prize Round 2. The new competition is awarding more than $4 million in cash prizes to incubators that implement high-impact ideas to support energy startups and entrepreneurs, including $50,000 Bonus Prizes available for incubators supporting water power, buildings technologies, and solar technologies.

Core to the EPIC Prize Round 2 is the incubator program, which consists of three phases: (1) design a plan to support energy startups and entrepreneurs, (2) implement the innovative plan, and (3) demonstrate success. Phase 1 is now open and allows three months for competitors to design a program.

The Move It! and Prove It! phases will also include a pitch competition in which incubators can nominate energy startups for a chance to win up to $50,000.

Follow EPIC Prize Round 2 now! https://www.herox.com/EPICRound2

The Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) will host a webinar on March 23, 2021 to demonstrate its Lab Partnering Service (LPS)—the premier tool to connect your entrepreneurs and businesses with National Lab resources—as well as answer related questions you may have.

OTT’s Lab Partnering Service (LPS) offers unprecedented access to the world’s most advanced scientific facilities and researchers across the Department’s National Lab complex. LPS provides investors, entrepreneurs—and other parties looking to advance energy innovation—a single online platform to connect with leading experts to quickly answer innovation questions and discover opportunities for building partnerships. Visitors can easily search hundreds of technologies, experts, facilities, success stories, and thousands of patents tailored to their individual needs.

The webinar will be held on March 23, 2021 at 1 p.m. ET. 

 Register here: https://doe.webex.com/doe/onstage/g.php?MTID=eba54c0831b3594ded8ec49e918c1e83c

 Thanks, and we hope to see you at the event!

Congratulations to our 20 EPIC Prize winners! We received many competitive submissions, making the selection process very difficult. Check out the great ideas we saw come in during the competition. Teams who applied for the prize should expect to receive a follow-up email soon with additional information. 

SELECTED EPIC PRIZE WINNERS

Arrowhead Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico

• Clean Energy Innovation Cluster & Accelerator

Austin Technology Incubator, Austin, Texas

• EMPOWER - Science to Startups

BRITE Energy Innovators, Warren, Ohio

• Energy Storage Innovation Ecosystem

Cascadia Cleantech Accelerator, Portland, Oregon

• The Cleantech Connectors for the PNW ecosystem

Centrepolis Accelerator, Southfield, Michigan

• Michigan CleanTech Hardware Accelerator

Elemental Excelerator, Honolulu, Hawaii

• Elemental Excelerator

Expanding Frontiers, Brownsville, Texas

• Hub for Space and Energy Startups in South Texas

Exponential Impact, Colorado Springs, Colorado

• Energy Entrepreneurship in Southern Colorado

FORGE Manufacturing Initiative, Somerville, Massachusetts

• FORGE Innovative Manufacturing Cluster

Greentown Labs Houston, Houston, Texas

• Building a Cleantech Cluster In Greater Houston

KeyLogic Initiative: U.S. Research Impact Alliance, Morgantown, West Virginia

• KeyLogic Initiative: US Research Impact Alliance

Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Unlocking Innovation Team, Los Angeles, California       

• LACI is Expanding Clean Energy Startup Innovation

mHUB Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

• mHUB Chicago: Nation's Largest Hardware Lab

Mississippi Development Authority V-QUAD, Jackson, Mississippi      

• The Mississippi Virtual-Quad

The Combine Incubator, Lincoln, Nebraska

• The Combine Incubator

The Spark Innovation Center at UT Research Park, Knoxville, Tennessee

• Spark Innovation Center at UT Research Park

The WY RANCH, Sheridan, Wyoming

• The WY RANCH

Trailhead Boise, Boise, Idaho         

• CleanTech Incubator for Energy Related Technologies

Urban Future Lab, Brooklyn, New York   

• Urban Future Lab Northeast Cleantech Hub Growth

Water, Energy and Technology Center Team, Fresno, California         

• Bolstering Success for Energy Startups

Whether you were selected or not, we encourage you to stay engaged with the American-Made Challenges and the American-Made Network to learn about future prize-related opportunities. 

Thank you again, and congrats to our EPIC Prize winners!

-EPIC Prize Administration Team

Tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST is the deadline to submit entries to the EPIC Prize competition. Our portal will close at 5 p.m. sharp, so please be sure to submit all prize materials early.

We look forward to reviewing all your entries! Award notifications will be announced after Sept. 30.

The official guidelines are posted here: 

https://americanmadechallenges.org/epic/docs/Energy_Program_for_Innovation_Clusters_Prize_Official_Rules.pdf

Please reach out to us if you have any questions on the HeroX platform or directly at . We encourage you to submit your application early, however if you experience technical difficulties with your submission and/or HeroX, please send us an email at EPICPrize@nrel.gov before  the 5pm deadline. 

Thank you for all your hard work, and good luck!

Hello Incubators and Cleantech Community:

We have six days left in the official EPIC Prize timeline! Are your slides and videos ready?

All prize competition materials must be submitted by 5 p.m. ET. The portal will close promptly at 5 p.m. If you experience any technical difficulty when submitting, questions or technical difficulties, please reach out to us directly at EPICPrize@nrel.gov.

Please see the official guidelines for more information: 

https://americanmadechallenges.org/epic/docs/Energy_Program_for_Innovation_Clusters_Prize_Official_Rules.pdf

Thank you for all your hard work, and good luck!